Nine-year-old Jonah was gifted a giraffe stuffie and matching blanket at birth. They have always been a security attachment for him, and the items tagged along everywhere Jonah went. Just a few weeks ago, he brought that stuffie and blanket on a family trip and carried it safely in his carry-on backpack. All was fine until his plane ride back, when he accidentally left that backpack at baggage claim. His parents, John and Kelly, didn’t realize the pack was missing until they returned home and couldn’t find it anywhere.

They rushed back to the airport, but sadly the backpack was nowhere to be found.

As many can imagine, Jonah was not only devastated, he was panicked. They reported it missing with the airport. Four long days went by without any word from officials. Finally, a ping came through to Jonah’s parents – the iPad that was also inside the missing backpack was turned on and tracked to the airport.

Jonah’s parents contacted our TAPD.  At that point, the family was ready to offer up a $500 reward because the missing stuffie and blanket meant everything to Jonah. The family ran into Officer Scott Massey of Transit Police who took a report and said he would search the airport cameras for any answers about what happened.

Two hours later, on the cameras, Officer Massey spotted the bag being picked up by a passerby. The officers knew they had to take this seriously and asked the family to provide pictures of the contents inside the backpack. Jonah’s dad said nothing else mattered but Jonah’s giraffe pal and blanket set.

That’s when things improved, and the family felt a level of kindness they call “life-changing.”